Labels or identification tags are useful for storing information about the items carrying the labels or identification tags. They can be used for inventory purposes, tracking items during shipping, and storing various useful information about the items such as their prices, serial numbers, contents, etc.
Traditionally, labels or identification tags have been handwritten or printed, which can be read by humans. These labels or tags can also be read by a computer using suitable optical character recognition (OCR) software.
There are also various types of electronically readable labels. For example, one-dimensional optical bar codes are readable with a scanned light beam and a light sensitive detector, as typically used in a grocery store scanner.
Two-dimensional optical bar codes are more compact (or dense) and can store much more information than one-dimensional optical bar codes. Their read-out method, however, is correspondingly more complicated than that which is used for reading one-dimensional optical bar codes because of the more complex label format and also because a higher optical resolution is usually required.
Magnetic ink labels are read by a head similar to a tape recording head or by a hall-effect or other magnetic detector. The labels themselves can be simple one-dimensional bar codes, two-dimensional bar codes, or include characters that can also be read by humans. Examples of such labels are the bank account numbers found at the bottom of personal checks.
Fluorescent dots are micro- or nano-sized particles containing materials which fluoresce when illuminated with light of a particular wavelength (usually blue or ultraviolet). The particles can be made in different versions, each with a different emitted-light color. These particles can be applied to a surface, either as a single color or as a mixture of some colors, in patches or as one- or two-dimensional bar codes. The particles may be made small enough to be placed on or in a very small sample, or even on single cells or molecules. The color or information of the label including fluorescent dots can be observed or read microscopically.
A Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag is a small circuit on a semiconductor chip. The circuit consists essentially of a small computer, a radio receiver, and a radio transmitter, which can send stored information when commanded by an external signal. A significantly greater amount of information can be encoded using this method than other labeling methods described above. Some RFID tags can be read at some distance (10 feet or greater) from the tag.
For some applications or users, it may be desirable to have a proprietary labeling system wherein labels are unreadable by common label reading systems or by humans. Such labels are preferably capable of permanently storing a digitally coded message containing a substantial amount of information. These labels or identification tags are further preferably organic and/or recyclable so that they can be placed on recyclable materials such as cardboard boxes. The present invention is directed to providing a labeling system and method which meet these and other goals.